Engine-valve mechanism.



No. 746,934. PATENTED DEC. 15, 1903.

R. L; BUTCHER.- I ENGINE VALVE MECHANISM.

APPLIUATIQN FILED MAY 5, 1902. no MODEL. 2 SHEETS-'SHEET 1.

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R. L. BUTCHER. ENGINE VALVE MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 5. 1902.

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Patented. December 15, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT L. BUTCHER, OF STITES, IDAHO.-

ENGINE-VALVEYMEGHAINISM.

srncrnrcazrron forming ee of Letters Patent No. 746,934, dated December15. 1903.

Application filed May 5, 1902. Serial No. 105,936. v(No model.) I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT L. BUTCHER, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Stites, in the county of Idahoand State of Idaho,have invented certain new and useful Improvements inEngine-Valve Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

My invention relates to a slide-valve, a reversing-valve therefor, andcertain parts otherwise related thereto.

Reference is to be had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a horizontal section showing the slide valve as applied to asimple engine. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section somewhat similar to Fig.1 and showing the valve at the center of its travel upon the valve-seat.Fig. 3 is fragmentary elevation of the valve-seat and its accompanyingparts. Fig. 4is a central section at right angles to Fig. 3 on the line4 4 in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section of thereversing-valve andits seat. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan View,

partly in section, of the reversing-valve seat.

Fig. 7 is a section showing my reversing-valve and a pair of myslide-valves arranged upon a cross compound engine, certain parts beingbroken away.

The cylinder of a simple engine is shown at 1 and is provided with apiston 2 in the usual manner. cation with the cylinder by means of thechannels 3 4, terminating in ports 5 6'. These channels are alternatelyused for live and exhaust steam, from which it follows that the ports 56 are alternately employed as admission and exhaust ports. Channels 7 8are likewise provided with ports 7 8, these channels and ports beingemployed exclusively for the admission of live steam. The exhaust- Avalve-seat 2 is in commu-.

' 18 are employed for the purpose of securing the cover of thesteam-chest in position. The valve-stem 19 passes through astufling-box20 in the wall of the casing 10 and may be operated. by the usualform ofeccentric. A

nut 2lis loosely mounted in an aperture 21 in the body of theslide-valve 22 and is engaged by the valve-stem 19 for the purpose ofrendering the valve adjustable relatively to the stem. The slide-valveis provided with channels 23 24 25 26 of the shape indicated moreparticularly in Figs. 1 and 2. A horizontal slideway 27 is disposed atright angles to the slide-valve, and said valve rests .4.Semicylindrical apertures 34 35, located centrally within the slidevalve, serve as channels and also as ports, as indicated moreparticularly in Fig. 1.

The operation of my slide-valve as applied to a simple engine issomewhat similar to that of the well-known Giddings valve described inPatent No. 314,120, dated March 17, 1885. Steam is admitted through thechannels 7 8 and ports 7* 8? to the semicylindrical ports or channels 3435. The direction of the steam from these ports depends somewhat uponthe position of the valve. If the valve is in the center of its traveland the engine is stopped, the steam will not pass into either end ofthe cylinder, but the latter will simply rest upon a dead-center, as inany other simple engine. If, however, the valve is moved to the left, asindicated in Fig. 1', the live steam passes from the channel 7 throughthe port 7 a and the two channels 23 and 34, thus having a double inlet.Thence it flows through the channel 3 to one end of the cylinder,driving the pieton 2 to the other end of the cylinder. The exhaust-steamfrom the other end of the cylinder now passes up through the channel 4and port 6, thence divides and passes through This draining is done by211- the two channels 26 and 24 to the exhaust 9.

The valve being moved to the right, the re- Verse operation takes place,live steam enter- 'ing through the channel 4 to the cylinder and theexhaust-steam passing out through the channel 3. Y

My reversing-valve is shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7. The reversing-valveseat is provided with ports 41, 42, 43, 44, and and is slidably engagedby the valve 46, this valve being provided with channels 47 and 48 ofthe shape indicated inFig. 5. A pressureplate 49 is mounted upon screws50 51, which are tightened in place by the lock-nuts 52 53. A valve-stem54 (see Fig. 7) is connected with a lever 55, pivoted at 56 and movableby hand. This lever is normally stationary and is used for the purposeof sliding the reversing-valve when it is desired to stop, start, orreverse the engine. In Fig. 7 the reversingvalve is shown as applied toa compound engine. In this instance I use two slide-valves 56 57,provided with valve-stems 58 58. These two slide-valves are providedwith channels 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71, all arranged as abovedescribed with reference to the simple engine. The channels 72 73 72 73are alternately used as admission and exhaust channels. The channels 7475 are used for the admission of steam, which may be from the boiler inthe first instance or from the exhaust of the other cylinder, ashereinafter explained.

Suppose now that the several parts of the compound engine are in theposition indicated in Fig. 7. The lever 55 being handoperated may conferany arbitrary position upon the reversing-valve and may therefore beused for the purpose of governing the flow of steam and also forchanging the general direction of rotation of the engine, as aboveexplained. The engine may therefore be reversed or changed in speed atany part of the stroke. Supposing the steam to be admitted through theport 41, as indicated in Fig. 7, it passes in the direction indicated bythe arrows to the channel 75, whence it finds no exit except thatindicated by the arrows in the lower left-hand corner of the figure.Following these arrows it divides into two paths, passing, respectively,through channels 66 and 67, through the channel 72 into the lefthand endof the cylinder. The exhauststeam from the other end of the cylinder nowpasses through the channel 73, divides into two paths, as indicated bythe arrows, follows channels 70 and 71 to the central port 71*, whenceit proceeds upward and to the right to the port 42. From here it passesinto the outer and longer channel 47 of the reversing-valve, by which itis carried over the exhaust-port of the valve and is inducted into theport 43 at the opposite end of the reversing-valve, its passage beingindicated by the long arrows shown in Fig. 7. It passes through the port43 upward and to the left through the channel 74 and then divides intotwo paths, as indicated by the arrowsto wit, through channels 64 and 65thence passes through the channel 72 to the lefthand end of a larger orsecondary cylinder. The exhaust-steam from the other end of thiscylinderpasses through the channel 73, divides, and passes through thechannels 60 61 of the upper slide-valve, thence passes in the directionindicated by the arrows to the port 44, whence it passes into theexhaust-cavity 48 of the reversing-valve and out through the finalexhaust 45 in the center of the valveseat.

Suppose that the several parts of the compound engine are in theposition indicated in Fig. 7, the lever 55 being controlled by hand. Nowif it is desiredto use live steam from the boiler in both cylinders,which is of great importance in traction or road engines or forsteam-carriage engines to get up steep hills, it is only necessary todraw the hand-lever 55 back until the port 43 is uncovered by the valve46. Thiswill admit live steam to the channel 74, and the engine will nowrun as a simple double engine with greatly-increased power. The exhaustwill now pass from both cylinders directly into the exhaust-cavity 48 ofthereversing-valve and out through the final exhaust 45 in the center ofthe valve seat.

. Suppose now that the structure shown in Fig. 7 is to be constructed asa simple double engine instead of compound, as shown above. In this caseit is necessary to change the reversing-valve 46, leaving it with thecavity 48 only and minus the channel 47. Now it is necessary also tochange the reversingvalve seat 40, using the ports 43 45 44 only,leaving the seat 40 minus the ports 41 and 42. The ordinary movements ofthe sliding valves automatically reverse the direction of the steamthrough the cylinders. This follows as a necessary consequence from thefact that the valves are symmetrical with each other and with theseveral ports. The reverse stroke is made as follows: Suppose that thevalve-stems 58 59 are automatically shifted to the right, thereversing-valve of course remaining in its present position. Live steamenters at 41, as before, passes through channel 7 5,'channels 69 70, andchannel 7 3 to the right-hand end of the cylinder. The exhaust steamescapes from the lefthand end of the cylinder through the channel 72,through channels 67 68, port 71 port 42, channel 47, port 43, channel74, channels 61 62, channel 73 to the right-hand end of the larger orsecondary cylinder. The exhaust-steam from the left-hand end of thiscylinder flows through the channel 72 and the two channels 63 64 over tothe center of the valve, thence passes through the righthand channel(indicated by dotted lines in the direction of the dotted arrows) to theport 44, from whence it passes through the central port 48 of thereversing-valve to the final exhaust 45. When the lever 55 is moved tothe left, so as to reverse the engine, the slidevalves are not moved.Suppose that the reversing-valve is thusmoved. The steam enters throughthe port 42 and follows a direction directly the reverse of thearrows-that is to say, the steam flows from port 42 through the channelindicated by dotted lines to the port 71, whence it proceeds throughchannels 70 71 73 to the right-hand end of the smaller or primarycylinder. From the lefthand end of this cylinder exhaust steam flowsthrough the channel 72, the channels 66 67 of the slide-valve, thechannel 75 of the valve-seat to the-port 41, thence (this port beingcovered by the reversing-valve) the steam proceeds through the channel47 in the reversing-valve to the port 44 of the reversing-valve seat,thence through the righthand channel (indicated by dotted lines) to thecentral port of the other slide-valve seat, thence through channels 6061 of the slidevalve over to the right and into the channel 73, whenceit proceeds to the right-hand end of the larger or secondary cylinder.The exhaust-steam from the left-hand end of this cylinder passes throughthe channel 72, channels 64 65, channel 74, through the channelindicated bydotted lines to port 4:3,thence through the central port 48of the reversing-valve (this valve being to the left, as above stated)over to the final exhaust through port 45. The reverse stroke followsthe same path, but in the reverse direction throughout the system. It

will be noted, therefore, that I produce a double passage for theexhaust-steam, thus reducing back pressure to a minimum and allowing alonger travel of the piston before the flow of steam into the same isreleased.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a valvemechanism, the combination of a fiat valve-seat provided with channelsand with an exhaust-cavity, said channels and said exhaust-cavityterminating flush with the seat, and a so-called D-valve slidablyresting upon said seat and provided with a plurality of substantiallyU-shaped channels, said channels being disposed concentrically and sospaced relatively to each other that a plurality thereof are capable ofalinement with each of said channels of said seat and at the same momentwith said exhaustcavity of said seat.

2. In a valve mechanism, the combination of a fiat valve-seat providedwith a flat face and with a plurality of channels and an exhaust-cavityterminating flush with said face, and a valve provided with a flat faceslidably engaging said face of said valve-seat, and also provided with aplurality of U-shaped channels, said channels of said valve beingdisposed concentrically and provided with ends,

all of which terminate flush with said fiat,

face of said valve-seat, said ends being of such size and so spacedrelatively to each other that a plurality of said ends are capable ofalinement with each of said channels of said seat and at the same momentwith said exhaust-cavity thereof.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of the subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT L. BUTCHER.

Witnesses:

THos. MULLEN, WILLIS ANDREWS, R. S. ANDERSON.

